It might be controversial, but this year I am going to suggest to you that you do not make any New Year’s Resolutions or make any big decisions right now. In fact, the only resolution I suggest you make is to ditch the New Year’s Resolution trend.
I know we are all being bombarded with shiny programmes to sign up to with promises of this being the best year ever if we just commit and dive in. But what if rushing into things in the depths of winter is not the best way to start the greatest year ever?
It is, after all, cold, wet and the nights are long. Pause, just for a moment, and notice how you are really feeling. Some people might be full of energy but for most of us the urge to pull on a comfy sweater and retreat to a cosy sofa for some peace and quiet is likely to be more prevalent. And it should be if we are in touch with our instincts and wider environment around us.
Our instincts are there not only to keep us safe but to optimise our health and efficiency. In winter nature tells us to slow down and conserve our energy. While food being scarcer may no longer be a drive for this, , there were a lot of other benefits that we evolved to gain from allowing ourselves the luxury of wintering while the nights are longer.
When spending time with the wolves you quickly notice that they are constantly connected with the environment around them and they are masters of energy and resource management. They recognise that there is a time for action and a time for rest, replenishment and reflection. They do not waste their energy. Everything they do has a purpose and is done in such a way to make the best use of the energy and resources available to them. They are incredibly efficient, but a large part of that efficiency involves lying around, appearing to do very little. However, that resting time is done with as much purpose behind it as everything else.
As humans we evolved to work in tune with our environment, responding to natural cycles, with seasons of activity and replenishment, action and reflection. Our ancestors were more active in Spring and Summer, slowing down in Autumn and spending the winter conserving energy, reflecting and planning for the year to come. The problem is that we now live in the ‘Always On’ modern world, which has divorced most of us from our natural rhythms. And part of that is finding ourselves in the depths of winter, the season of reflection and dreaming, being encouraged to set ourselves unrealistic goals and leap into action without giving appropriate thought to what we actually want and how best to get there. No wonder most Resolutions only last a few weeks at best.
As humans we need reflection time in order to build connections between learning experiences. Always on is not the most efficient way to be. It leaves us spinning, overwhelmed and burnt out. It also actually stops us moving forward with our lives and businesses. Reflection allows us to step back from our experiences, develop critical thinking skills and improve on future performance by analysing what we have learned and how far we have come. It is vital for us to develop as individuals and particularly as leaders. And rest allows us to build up the energy reserves we need to take effective action when the time is right to take it.
This is why I invite you not to jump blindly into arbitrary goal setting this January. Give yourself the gift of some wintering time to reflect, dream and replenish.
There are ways of making this reflection process much deeper but you can achieve a profoundly positive impact on the success in your year ahead by slowing down and asking yourself some very simple questions:
What has gone well and why?
What are you most proud of achieving in the last year?
What brought you the most joy?
What has not gone so well and why?
From those experiences, what have I learnt that will serve me better in the year ahead?
What do I want to take into 2024?
Where could things be even better?
The best way to get the most out of this exercise is to lean into our instincts. Don’t approach is as a ‘must do it all now’ task. Allow time to ponder, revisit the questions a few times and note down what comes up. Giving ourselves the gift of a slower pace for the first few weeks of the year allows us to access our playful and creative systems, opening us up to possibility and opportunities. Pondering and revisiting allows thoughts to develop and opportunities to be noticed and explored. It also allows us to build up those energy reserves to be ready to take efficient and effective action.
This January, give yourself the gift of leaning into winter’s dreaming. Then, with the wisdom you have gathered and the energy you have built up, you will be in a great place to set firm goals in a few weeks’ time when you start feeling the natural rise in energy that comes with early spring.
Claire Payne, Coach & Facilitator
“Plants and animals don’t fight the winter; they don’t pretend it’s not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives that they lived in the summer. They prepare. They adapt. They perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through. Winter is a time of withdrawing from the world, maximising scant resources, carrying out acts of brutal efficiency and vanishing from sight; but that’s where the transformation occurs. Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but its crucible.”
― Katherine May, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
